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Quantitative easing (QE) is a euphemism for printing money. We’ve already had QE1 and QE2. That is why we are experiencing increasing inflation in the world. Flooding the market with worthless money causes inflation. Money is worthless when it does not represent goods and services created and sold – in other words when it is printed.

At the end of this week the “world’s leading central bankers”, as they like to be called, meet Ben  Bernancke, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve at aptly-named Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Mr Bernancke, together with Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, will address the problem of a world in which money value is being lost, as measured by the rising price of gold.

Inflation robs the prudent, those who have saved their money to provide for old age and emergencies and rewards those who are on wages that can be increased at a cost to the consumer or those on government or other support that is planned to rise to compensate for inflation. Governments print money, you see.

Inflation sends a clear message: Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow it will cost twice as much to do so. Whether Mr Bernancke will announce QE3 at the Hole remains to be seen but probably he will make statements that suggest that he will do so soon, anyway. The bankers will heave a sigh of relief. Their turn in their jobs will be over before the financial pigeons come home to roost.

What is a banker? Someone who looks after your money?

The dictionary says is it a person skilled in large scale financial transactions and goes on to describe a central bank as somewhere that circulates money on behalf of a government and implements its monetary policy by regulating the money supply. Pretty important stuff, you may say, deserving of substantial rewards. That is how they see it, too. Indeed they have received mighty large bonus payments for doing such an important job so well.

Why is it, then, that we have had a string of world financial crises and increasing inflation and one of the world’s top three currencies, the Euro, under threat of self-destruction and major banks like Goldman Sachs under investigation and other top banks like Lehman Brothers going bankrupt?

Whatever else the bankers are skilled at, communicating what is the problem and how it can be solved is not one of their main achievements. You might think that for their wages communication would figure quite high on the list of requirements but apparently not.

Perhaps that is all about to change. Maybe Messers Bernancke, Trichet and fellow top bakers will explain to us all, from Jackson Hole, what on earth is going on and how their highly-valued skill is going to put it right.

Or maybe we shall all just end up in an even bigger hole than Jackson?